Black Panther - Wakanda Forever

 Dangrdafne review

What a wonderful tribute to Chadwick Boseman. So many tears. It truly was a wonderful story that included the loss of Chadwick and made it all work. I truly hope that the ceremony in the movie helped the actors deal with the loss. I felt that it helped me and felt that it allowed the public to be a part of the funeral.

I absolutely adored all the woman power in this movie. During the scene on the bridge I even said "there are three women of color as the main heroes in this movie!" I was blown away by the action and their stories. The actresses are excellent at their jobs and I am grateful for their portrayal of these incredible superheroes.

The costuming for this movie was beyond spectacular. Angel Bassett's outfits were out of this world beautiful and added even more to her beauty. I want to cosplay every outfit she wore. The white ceremony outfits were also simply beautiful and angelic. It was pure glorious beauty on the screen. I hope the costumers win the Academy Award for this movie.

I loved the music in this movie too. I feel like I don't recall lyrics in past Marvel movies, but I could just be misremembering, but each song really fit into the scenes and I definitely will seek out the soundtrack for this movie. I was a little thrown by the new Panther music but it does work very well. I do miss the tribal sound that was in the first movie but I understand why it wouldn't be in this one without Chadwick.

Namor was well done and the special effects for him were seamless and I was very impressed with how realistic he was. I did mention during the one underwater scene that even though I liked Aquaman, that this was the Aquaman movie that one was trying to be ;) Again I have no history with any of these characters, so I had no issues as some do and I liked the story and the portrayals.

I am grateful that some how I was not spoiled on anything in this movie and I will not spoil anything here now. I did figure out one thing while the movie progressed but I am ok with that. It is best if you can just watch and let everything unfold. I think it was an excellent story, told very well.

I do definitely wish we saw this movie in the theater, as I think it would have been all encompassing and hit even harder for the action but I am also so glad I was at home to cry throughout this movie.

Another excellent addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

4 paws

Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Disney Plus

 Dangrdafne review:

First statement, I love Anthony Mackie... as Falcon ;)

I also love Sebastian Stan as Bucky/The Winter Soldier.

Put them together and Dangrdafne is a happy TV watcher.

I will admit that when this series started I was not as into it as I thought I would be and we even paused it numerous time to talk about other things. But half way through something changed and suddenly I was fully involved and when it was over I was greatly impressed with the story and I loved how it all tied together.

I was impressed how it wasn't just a superhero show and it wasn't about fighting just a villain, it was about fighting racism and supremacy of all kinds. I found myself sympathizing with the "bad guys" and villains and wishing everyone in the world would watch this show if for nothing more than just Anthony Mackie's final monologue. It was true brilliance and so many could learn from it. This show hurt and it should. People should have to look at themselves and question their motives, their ideals and how they interact with our human beings on this earth. That is a tall order for a TV show but this easily met that order and exceeded it.

I am glad we watched it over two days and not over the six weeks that the show actually ran but it did allow for one spoiler for me and I am pretty sad about it. I won't post it here but I am hopeful there will be some other reason or outcome for this item as it involves one of my favorite characters. I was also spoiled by a casting but since I am not well versed on Marvel history I did not know what it meant... and honestly I still don't LOL.

If you love the Marvel Universe, this is a MUST watch. If you want to learn more about the human race, this is a MUST watch. The acting is well done, the story is interesting and timely, the music and action are impeccable and it is part of the history, current stories and future telling that we all have come to love in the Marvel world.

4 paws

Lovecraft Country - HBO Max

 Dangrdafne review:

Should I or shouldn't I watch this show? It is horror. It is scary. It is amazing according to many of my friends. I figured I watched Preacher, so how much horror could it be? Enough :)

Yes, it was extremely violent and gross and hard to watch but at the same time it made sense and I didn't feel like it was gratuitous. It fit the story and was even needed at times. I survived ;)

What an extremely thought provoking show. I had so many questions not only just about the story but about the history and the use of black actors in traditionally white roles. It was refreshing to see sci-fi and horror turned on its head. The cast was incredible and I would love to sit down with them to discuss the show and their thoughts on it all. 

I love that I had to live in their world and realize that sci-fi was a part of their world. That Lovecraft Country was real and that is not what they were surprised to learn about as the story went on. It was a great mystery story and again a beautiful family story. I really really love stories of families that are either by blood or even more so by choice. Such subtle things happen within the overall global story and I was enthralled with it all. 

I get why people loved this show so much. It is different, intriguing, thought provoking, horrific, glorious and timely. I am on board if there is a season 2 but I am also ok if this is all the story they get to tell. Although I think I would rather it continues so we all get to see the upside down sci-fi world of Lovecraft Country and make it the norm. 

4 paws

Watchmen - HBO

I do not have a word to describe Watchmen from HBO that describes how completely incredible it is.

No spoilers

Each actor is perfectly chosen for each character, the cinematography is stunning and overwhelming,
the music (both score and soundtrack) is superb and it’s own character, the sound effects appear old fashioned but they are powerful and real, and the story is beyond belief .... except that it all did happen and is happening. Well maybe not the actual sci-fi parts but the historical stories are all real and horrifying.

Regina King is a goddess and is my new favorite hero.... errrr superhero??

I am so grateful that HBO offered this to watch for free this past Juneteenth weekend. It was a timely watch and was terrifyingly true for our times right now. I learned so much from the nine episodes. What an amazing undertaking and accomplishment those 9 episodes are.

Brainwise and I had many interesting conversations after each episode after the credits and music played, except one episode had an after credit scene - be sure to watch the credits and listen to the songs that play, they mean just as much to the story as the actual script. There were many pieces to discuss and pull apart and mull over both internally and together. I feel that this is a show many people should watch to learn about racism and our society. It might help people understand it in a different way and actually listen to what is being said if it is shown to them in this comic book way.

I had a hard time at times remembering that this was sci-fi as the historical topics and human elements were so accurate and real. And there were some incredibly far out there sci-fi elements but if you know the Watchmen story, you should have no issue following along - I got lost a few times but it all worked out in the end and had me nodding and smiling at how it all tied together.

I would love to get into everything on this post but I want you to go and watch, if you haven't already, and be as horrified, amused, shocked, intrigued and delighted as I was with this show.

As humans we need to do better and the Watchmen is just one way to show us how to try.

4 paws and a tail

15 Black Comics Writers Whose Work You Need to Read

On June 4, David F. Walker (@DavidWalker1201) tweeted a link to "15 Black Comics Writers Whose Work You Need to Read." I retweeted it and shared it on Facebook, but only this afternoon did I realize that this blog was also the place to share such information. Walker's tweet was a link to a CBR article, but I figure I'd embed the tweet here rather than jump to CBR because, well, maybe you'd want to add Walker to your follows!

15 Black Comics Writers Whose Work You Need to Read https://t.co/nnhzmUBU4U

— David F Walker (@DavidWalker1201) June 5, 2020